JG Cully's writing blog about the Haldred Chronicles series of fantasy detective novels.

Friday, 18 October 2013

Story time

I’ve not posted up a short story in a long time so for today’s
Blog, why not?

This was a short story done a while back with Katrina and
Matt. It was an experiment in different
language styles and a more ‘action’ orientated style of writing. It’s a break from the norm I must admit and
didn’t quite work out how I wanted, but it was a good excuse to try something
new.

The original writing challenge was to write an alternative
take on a Fairytale. This is my attempt. Please excuse the rather unoriginal names of
the characters.

Hope it entertains at any rate :).

* * * * *

“Big Dog this is Wolf Pack!
We’re falling back!”

“Big Dog to Wolf Pack, say again, what do you mean falling
back?”

A massive explosion answered the question for Captain John
Spartan, making everyone around him duck for cover as a plume of black smoke
bellowed up from behind the house his SWAT team had been assaulting. Seconds later, members of the SWAT team came
dashing round the battered wooden residence.
They were carrying one of their own in a casualty tarpaulin; others
appeared wounded or in shock, face’s blackened.

“Get those men behind the line!” barked the Captain,
bringing the stunned police men and women around him out of there shock. Uniformed officers rushed to the SWAT team’s
aid, escorting them back behind the protective line of security tape and police
cruisers. No sooner had they gotten the
injured officers to the ambulances than gunfire started from the house, huge
muzzle flashes erupting from the windows.

Officers, civilians and TV-crews dived for cover as bullets
tore apart the police cruisers for a third time, peppering them with bullet
holes. Mercifully no-one was hurt but
John didn’t want to think about the bill for repairing all the damage the ‘Pig
Skin’s Brothers’ had inflicted.

They were only 3 men, but from the looks of the damage
inflicted and the harsh treatment they had given the SWAT team they had enough
explosives and firepower to continue the siege for a long time.

“Captain Sparta!” yelled a disheveled looking reporter as
she scrambled over to where John was kneeling by the side of the one of the
battered cruisers, followed by her equally disheveled looking camera-man.

“Riddick!” John yelled over his shoulder, ignoring Kate as
she opened her mouth to continue questioning; she sensibility shuffled off.

“Sir!” bellowed a gruff formidable looking uniformed
sergeant, who quickly sprinted over to the Captain’s side.

“I think it’s time.”

Riddick gave his commander a confused expression behind his
black aviator glasses. “You sure? Hell of a lot of people around.”

“I know, but considering what the Pigs are packing I don’t
want to risk any more lives.”

“Send in the Lupin.” ordered the Captain.

* * * * *

“Ha ha! Yeah!” screamed Stray Hat Willie, punching the air
with one hand. “Did yah see that
bro? Look at them cops a’ running!”

“It’s a beau-ta-ful thin’.” Agreed his brother, Two-by-four
Tommy, shouldering a plank of wood. “No
way is we go’in back to the big house now, no way! They aien’t getting us out fo’ a lo’arong
time!”

“Yeah got that right!” declared the final member of the
trio, Stone Wall Freddy, the mountain a man slapping a fresh box magazine into
his M60 machinegun and grinning toward his brothers. “Cops ‘ill fuss and fetch out there till
they’s gone stupid. By then, we’ll have
dug the tunnel and be away out in’ta the swamps. Old daddy would ah been proud!”

The brothers briefly took their hats off at the thought of
their dearly departed ‘Pa’.

“Now.” Freddy said next, looking over toward Willie. “Willie, it’s your turn down in the hole.”

Just as Willie was about to open the attic hatch and descend
to the tunnel digging area, a strange humming sound started to build up from
outside the house.

“What the heck is that?” asked Freddy, frowning and heading
back to the window, machine gun in hand.

“Hey, yeah should see this boy’s. Them cops got some kind ah ray-dar thing out
there!” he declared, beckoning his two comrades over.

The brothers took a window each, peering carefully out of
the shattered glass. Sure enough, an
armored vehicle painted in police blue and white was parked up by the
perimeter. Atop it was what looked very
much like a radar dish, pointed at the house.
The humming seemed to be coming from the vehicle.

“Ah!” said Tommy, grinning.
“If they’s trying that old psycho-ma-logical warfare on us they going ta
be disappointed. I could go fur some of
that Rock-in-Roll!”

“I hear that!” agreed Willie.

Freddy, considered a little smarter than the other two,
wasn’t so sure. He was particularly
concerned by that fact that everyone he could see at the police perimeter had
there hands over their ears.

“Boys.” He said, as the humming from outside seemed to
intensify. “I think we should maybe all
get digging, just this once.”

His brothers looked over.
“Why’s that Freddy?”

Freddy didn’t get a chance to answer; he was interrupted by
the house falling down.

* * * * *

Kate Appleton was beaming at the camera. The makeup boys had cleaned her up and she
had an exclusive interview with Captain Spartan. This would be a perfect boost to her career,
even if Captain Spartan wasn’t known for his media appearances.

“Captain Spartan.” She said, microphone in hand, flashing a
toothy smile. “can you tell us just what
has occurred here.”

“Lupin.” said John, eyeing the reporter and wondering why the
hell he had agreed to the damn interview.

“Ah…can you elaborate for our viewers?” Kate asked, trying
to maintain her fake smile and resisting the urge to beg the good Captain to
act like a normal human being for once.

“Fine.” John relented, producing a slip of paper from his
back pocket and rather obviously reading from it.

“Lupin is the latest weapon in the fight against crime. This highly specialist police armoured
vehicle is equipped with a turret mounted sonic non-lethal weapon designed to
collapse constructs under controlled circumstances. Given the danger faced here at Brick Street we
decided to deploy Lupin to prevent lose of life.”

Trying his best to look a little bit more interested, John
addressed the camera.

“Basically folks.” He said, actually managing to crack a
smile. “We huffed and we puffed and we
blew there house in.”

The camera just happened to pan past the Captains head to
the scene of the 3 Pig brothers being lead away in handcuff’s. Each of them was covered in the dust of
fallen masonry and still had shocked expressions plastered over there faces.

“So remember.” John declared, face serious as he pointed at
finger at the camera. “Crime doesn’t
pay. Commit a crime…”